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Last updated 14:28 17/10/2014
The New Zealand Maori rugby jersey for their upcoming tour to Asia pays tribute to the country they will play two of their games in.
The 2014 jersey pays respect to Japanese culture, while also providing a fresh design to showcase the proud heritage of the team. The Maori embark on a two-match tour to Japan later this month. They play Japan in Kobe on 1 November and Tokyo on 8 November and end the tour in Singapore against the Asia Pacific Dragons on November 15.
In collaboration with senior NZ Maori players, adidas enlisted the help of renowned Maori artist Dave Burke, the team's kaumatua Luke Crawford, and New Zealand Rugby Maori rugby development manager Tiki Edwards, to deliver a design that not only showcased authentic Maori images and stories, but also paid respect to traditional Maori and Japanese cultures.
"There are three key design elements that we focused on - the Takarangi on the shoulders, Ara Poutama on the ribs, and Manaia on the stomach region,'' Burke said.
Crawford wanted players to carry the beginnings of Maori and Japanese cultures on their shoulders.
''The Ara Poutama is a pattern that expresses the whakapapa and genealogy of both Maori and Japanese warriors.'
"Then we have the Manaia, the two figures at the bottom of the jersey, which represent both the Maori and Japanese teams with their traditional weapons ready for battle.
"We wanted to show our Japanese friends that we're very similar. Part of the design pays tribute to Maori moko art form and its similarity to Japanese culture and rituals around body tattooing."
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/1...ibute-to-Japan